Archive for the ‘Projects’ Category

Last summer I attended Sound+Environment 2017 a conference at Hull University for artists and researchers exploring the relationships between sound and the environment. I was there with Annie Mahtani and together we performed as SOUNDkitchen. We played a 30min set using field recordings from a trip to São Miguel island in the Azores combined with live electronics. We performed on HEARO, the Hull 30 channel loudspeaker orchestra using ambisonic sound spatialisation and made an ambisonic recording of the performance. The track features calls of native wildlife, the interactions of wind and water on the natural and build environment and the sound of human activity and technology.

I’m happy to announce the release of ‘Ilha Verde.1’ on Bandcamp. You can download a stereo mix for any price you like – including for free! If you’d like a multichannel file for full surround sound immersion in the wonderful soundscapes we recorded then for a small fee you can choose from a variety of multichannel formats including ambisonic B Format. Oh and there’s a bonus binaural mix too for those headphone moments.

I’ve uploaded some UK recordings made with the Ambeo VR. I was in London and recorded some city ambiences including some lovely sounds of trains rumbling over the bridges above Borough Market. I made a long duration recording here of over an hour capturing the changing soundscape as the market winds down and packs up for the day.

I’ve uploaded some of the field recordings I made on São Miguel island during my R&D trip in April 2017. There’s a variety of recordings made with the Ambeo VR ambisonic microphone including birds and frogs from some of the many calderas on the island and some urban recordings from Ponta Delgada.

In April 2017 I traveled to São Miguel island in the Azores to attend the Invisible Places international conference. As SOUNDkitchen, Annie Mahtani and I devised and led a soundwalk for conference delegates in Ponta Delgada. We’ve written an account of the walk for the conference proceedings which you can read on the R&D SOUNDkitchen SOUNDwalk: Ponta Delgada page along with further information about our soundwalking practice. There’s also a montage of field recordings that features examples of the soundscape we encountered in the town and across the island.

Petrol Sound bag & kit

I’ve also posted a detailed overview of the field recording kit I took on the trip. In addition to creating the soundwalk and attending the conference I spent several days field recording across the island. This was a perfect opportunity to develop my multichannel field recording practice working with some new equipment. I’ll be posting descriptions of the techniques I used and examples of the recordings I made soon. In the meantime you can read about the Zoom F4 multitrack recorder and the Ambeo VR microphone that I used to make ambisonic recordings on the R&D – Field Recording page.

I’m embarking on a period of research and development around my field recording and composition practice that has been funded by a Grants For the Arts award from Arts Council England supported using public funding by the National Lottery. The first stage of the project involves a trip to the beautiful Sao Miguel Island in the Azores to attend Invisible Places 2017. Working with Annie Mahtani, I’ll be devising and leading the SOUNDkitchen SOUNDwalk – Ponta Delgada at the symposium. I’ll also be spending a few days field recording around the island with a focus on ambisonic sound recordings.

I’ve set up a project page on my site here to document my work and will be posting updates on my progress on this blog in the category ‘IP 2017 R&D’.

I’ve been sorting through some of my archives. I produced the sound design for this short animation from 2003 . The animation was made by Lizzy Bean. The sound track is mostly a ‘remix’ or montage of excerpts from three of my compostitions.

As part of last year’s Supersonic Festival 2011 I worked with Annie Mahtani from SOUNDkitchen on a collaboration with micro-cinema collective Imperfect Cinema. Inspired by their DIY punk roots Imperfect Cinema invited festival goers to record small amounts of footage of the festival on Super 8 cameras which they then collected, digitised and edited into a 15min film. Annie and I collected field recordings from around the festival and compsed a soundtrack for the film to be edited to – all in 48hrs! The final film was screened at the festival in the Custard Factory theatre on the Sunday evening.

Supersonic 2012 is coming up in October and looks set to be a fantastic 10th year celebration. Imperfect Cinema are back and discussions are underway for SOUNDkitchen to put in an appearance too!

By Dan Paolantonio & Allister Gall. A collaborative short film shot on super8mm film by attendees of the 2011 Supersonic Festival. This film was informed by a workshop held by Imperfect Cinema in which the IC project and the super-8mm medium were explored in terms of potential synergies and dialogues with sonic arts, with a particular emphasis on location and materiality and 'foraging' as a production methodology (with the films of Margaret Tait and Marie Menken used as examples). Working with Sonic Arts collective Soundkitchen (who produced the audio for this film) who describe themselves as 'Cinema for the Ears' we asked our film-makers to consider the visual material they gathered in terms of its potential for becoming 'Music for the Eyes.' We were also particularly inspired by Capsule's 'Home of Metal' project and how this presented the aesthetic of Heavy Metal Music as a manifestation of the industry of the West Midlands. Similarly we asked our filmmakers to consider not only the post-industrial landscape of the Custard Factory (the venue for the festival) but also the reflexivity of the analogue materials used to capture the images in the first place (film stock). Following shooting Imperfect Cinema hand processed the film stocks overnight (in a travel lodge bathroom) then converted the film images to digital video files (telecine transfer) and finally edited the visual elements to the soundtrack produced by SoundKitchen for screening on that day. During the edit we aimed to focus upon images which we felt conjured feelings of the elemental, with a particular emphasis on fire and water, as we felt that this fit with the notion of Heavy Metal music being 'forged' in the West Midlands. The entire process from the start of the workshop to the screening in the Custard Factory Arts Centre Cinema was a little over 24 hours! We hope you enjoy this alternative document of the 2011 Supersonic Festival and indeed can experience it as Music for the Eyes!

I will be playing with Antti Saario as Anvil & Stirrup at two events in the coming months.

The first gig is at Falmouth’s School of Noises on Thursday 19th January at the Jacob’s Ladder Inn where we’ll playing a live laptop set and a live electronics improv with double bass player Thanos Polymeneas who’s also performing on the night.

The second is Audiograft 2012, Oxford’s festival of sound art and experimental music. We’ll be playing a live laptop set at the Jaqueline Du Pré Concert Hall on 2nd March at 7.30pm. Also on the bill is our friend and ex BEAST composer David Prior and the fantastic Trevor Wishart.

The Audiograft festival runs from Monday 27th February to Sunday 4th March and includes sound installations and performances from the likes of Lee Patterson and Robert Curgenven, ParkinsonSaunders, Paul Whitty, Max Eastley, Jason Kahn and Patrick Farmer.

I’ve just finished a commission from Sound and Music working on an audio installation project with the Bush Theatre in London.

Sixty-Six Books is the inaugural show in the Bush Theatre’s new home, an ambitious project celebrating the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible. A cycle of sixty-six new works have been commissioned – plays, poems, stories and songs – each of which provide a contemporary response to the themes, stories and ideas in one of the sixty-six books of the Bible. Together they represent an unprecedented commissioning cycle in terms of the scale, range and quality of the writers involved. They include: Archbishop Rowan Williams, Neil Labute, Wole Soyinka, Jackie Kay, David Edgar, Kwame Kwei Armah, Andrew Motion, Michael Rosen, Carol Ann Duffy and Billy Bragg.

I have recorded and produced twelve of the writer’s responses for inclusion in an installation that uses modifed telephone boxes as interactive listening stations. Users can select, and listen to the twelve responses at their leisure. The phone boxes include responses from Andrew Motion, Jackie Kay, Billly Bragg, Laura Dockrill and Michael Rosen. There are four phone boxes located: outside the Bush Theatre; in the foyer of the National Theatre; at Foyles Boookshop on the Southbank; in the West 12 Shopping Centre in Shepherd’s Bush.

The complete cycle of works will be performed at the Bush Theatre and Westminster Abbey from the 10-29th October. The phone boxes will be accessible throughout this period, during the opening hours of the respective venues. You can book tickets for the performances via the Bush Theatre website, the phone boxes are free.

I was delighted to be asked to join the fantastic BiLE in July. BiLE are a collaborative group of composers and performers of instrumental and electroacoustic music with a shared interest in live performance. They’ve been playing together since the beginning of the year and are developing a growing repertoire of pieces including existing scores, works written by members of the ensemble and improvisations. They have already played several gigs in the UK and Europe.

BiLE plays as a networked laptop ensemble with each performer contributing their own ‘instruments’ via a range of platforms such as MAX/MSP and Supercollider. They often incorporate live sound sources and experimentation with gestural controllers such as iPhones, wiimotes and Xbox Kinect. Performances also include live visuals.

I played my first gig with BiLE at ArtsFest in Birmingham, Sept 2011. We performed in the impressive Round Room at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.